Russia says to drop Iskander plans if US scraps missile shield

September 29th, 2009 MOSCOW - Russia's military announced plans Tuesday to set up an extensive network of short-range Iskander missiles throughout the country as part of a broader reform of the armed forces. According to a report by the Itar-Tass agency, ground forces commanding General Vladimir Boldyrev said the Iskanders, with a range of 500 km, would be stationed in every defence district.

September 19th, 2009 MOSCOW - The Russian defence ministry confirmed Saturday that the country scrapped plans to deploy missiles near Poland after the US shelved its nuclear missile shield plans for Europe. Vladimir Popovkin said on the Ekho Moskvy radio station that US President Barack Obama's decision earlier this week made the deployment of Iskander tactical missiles in the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad unnecessary.

September 17th, 2009 NATO chief hails missile defense "positive step"BRUSSELS — NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says a U.S. decision to shelve plans for a missile shield in the Czech Republic and Poland "is a positive step." Fogh Rasmussen says he had talks with the U.S.

September 17th, 2009 MOSCOW - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday that Russia valued US President Barack Obama's decision to scrap plans for a missile shield in Central Europe. Obama announced earlier Thursday that Washington was dropping its previous plans to deploy elements of a missile shield in the Czech Republic and Poland because the Iran threat is perceived in a different way.

July 6th, 2009 Medvedev: "Reasonable compromise" with US on nukesMOSCOW — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says a preliminary deal with the U.S. to reduce stockpiled nuclear weapons is a "reasonable compromise" on the crucial issue.

July 6th, 2009 MOSCOW - US President Barack Obama has said that the proposed deployment of a missile shield in Europe was intended to counter Iran and Russia should not worry about it. In an interview with Novaya Gazeta newspaper Monday, Obama said that Washington was seeking to create a missile shield in Europe to protect the US and Europe from Iranian ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads.

July 4th, 2009 MOSCOW - The speaker of Russian parliament's upper house has hoped that the US could give up its plans to deploy a missile shield in Poland and Czech Repubic as President Barack Obama has shown least interest in the controversial issue. Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov told Ekho Moskvy radio Saturday that he has reasons to believe that "ultimately, this thoughtless and very dangerous step will not be made - there will be neither radar nor missiles".

April 1st, 2009 LONDON - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his US counterpart Barack Obama Wednesday admitted that there were still differences between the two nations over the issue of US-proposed missile shield in Central Europe. 'While acknowledging that differences remain over the purposes of deployment of missile defence assets in Europe, we discussed new possibilities for mutual international cooperation in the field of missile defence,' the two leaders said in a joint statement after their meeting in London.

March 20th, 2009 MOSCOW - There is scope for Russia and the US to reach an agreement on missile defence, the Russian foreign ministry said Thursday. 'In theory, we have every opportunity to agree on the missile defence issue,' Russian foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said.

March 4th, 2009 MADRID - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev Tuesday rejected media reports that Washington had pledged to drop its Central European missile shield plans if Moscow helped resolve Iranian nuclear standoff. 'We are in correspondence, but no tradeoffs have been discussed, I assure you,' Medvedev, who is on an official visit to Spain, told a news conference in Madrid.

March 2nd, 2009 MOSCOW - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Sunday he hoped to discuss US plans to deploy a missile shield system in Central Europe with his American counterpart Barack Obama when they will meet in April during the G20 summit in London. In an interview with the Spanish media, Medvedev said he hoped the new US administration would display a more creative approach to this issue than the previous George Bush administration.

February 6th, 2009 MUNICH - The prospective US missile defence shield in Central Europe targets Russia's nuclear deterrent, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov has said. Speaking at the 45th Munich Conference on Security Policy Friday, he also said Russia is proposing a ban on the placement of strategic offensive weapons outside national borders in a new Russia-US arms reduction agreement.

February 6th, 2009 MUNICH - The US will continue to work on a planned missile defence system in central Europe, but it will consult Russia, Vice President Joe Biden said Saturday. 'We will continue to develop missile defences to counter a growing Iranian capability, provided the technology is proven to work and cost effective,' Biden said at the 45th Munich Security Conference, adding: 'We will do so in consultation with our NATO allies and Russia.' Russia has consistently opposed the missile shield as a threat to its national security and officials have repeatedly expressed the hope that President Barack Obama would not follow through with his predecessor's missile defence plans.

January 28th, 2009 BRUSSELS - NATO has said that a Russian decision, if confirmed, to halt plans to deploy missiles in Kaliningrad would be a positive step. 'If the decision has been taken ...

January 27th, 2009 MOSCOW - Russia has decided to suspend its plan to deploy Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad as the new US administration has indicated it would not speed up its missile shield plans in Europe, Interfax news agency reported Wednesday. 'These plans have been suspended because the new US administration is not pushing ahead with the plans to deploy the third phase of the US missile defence system in Poland and the Czech Republic,' a Russian General Staff official was quoted as saying.